Difficulty Level = 8After saving the villagers near Amon Dîn, the heroes have joined with Lord Alcaron to assist Lord Boromir’s forces in retaking Osgiliath. At the army encampment, you are thrilled to again meet Lord Faramir, and you are introduced to his brother Boromir, eldest son of Denethor and renowned hero of Gondor.

Nestled on both sides of the Anduin lies old Osgiliath, a crossroads city bridging the great river. In the long war against Mordor, control of Osgiliath has been a critical piece. One that Boromir means to reclaim.

As the sun breaks over the Mountains of Shadow, beating at the still river fog, the great horn of Gondor sounds from Boromir’s lips. As its sound fades into the morning, the men of Gondor cry out as one. They cry for battle and the ruin of foes, their swords lifted to the sky. Come death and come honor, the newest battle for Osgiliath begins...

“Assault on Osgiliath” is played with an encounter deck built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Assault on Osgiliath, Mordor Elite, and Southrons. (Mordor Elite and Southrons can be found in the Heirs of Númenor deluxe expansion to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.) Controlling Locations The Assault on Osgiliath is a battle to liberate the ancient capital of Gondor from the forces of Mordor. To represent Gondor’s struggle to drive the enemy from every last corner of the ruined city, the players are instructed to take control of Osgiliath locations when they leave play.

Stage 1B reads: “Forced: When an Osgiliath location leaves play as an explored location, the first player takes control of that location.” To take control of a location, the first player removes all progress from the just explored location and places it in front of him in his play area instead of discarding it. Locations under any player’s control are still in play. Their game text is active and they can be affected by card effects.

Losing Control of Locations The more Osgiliath locations the players control, the harder the encounter deck will fight back. There are many encounter card effects that force players to return locations they control to the staging area. Also, many of the Osgiliath locations have triggered effects that will cause players to return them to the staging area. When a player returns a location he controls to the staging area, he loses control of that location and removes all progress from it. If a player is eliminated from the game, each Osgiliath location controlled by that player is returned to the staging area.

TM